Watervalley ....

....pre-ride after more than a week since last real ride; might have learned the lesson the hard way. Hopefully ill recover for the main group ride Saturday :)
Awesome day for a ride though. Started off not taking any chances on burn out so let Craig and Cesar do all the work. The pace was nice and easy and 3 hours in we reached out normal stop. Decided to try out the coffe shop and think this beats the pub;  both in offers for food and coffee and time it takes. Quickly back on the road; hard 38 km gravel to hgway 40. My legs immediately started feeling the muscle ache that usually appear on the first ride after some time off the bike; and 120+ km left! Not a good sign. I sucked it up and enjoyed the great conditions and spring weather. The road was nice and dry for most parts. Some soft mind at the upper section before going down, enough for bike to require some tlc tomorrow. Hit the pavement and Craig and Cesar both did some good pulling into the wind. I could only think of home and my bed. Im usually the first to agree on snack stop but in cochrane I turned down both bike wash and snack as a longer stop had me worried I wouldn't get moving again.
Made it home and no regrets; the pain will go away and its these kinds of outings I remember and enjoy.
Tomorrow a easy spin and hope to make it out Saturday not too tired.

Happy Riding! Spring is here!!

Spring ....

... Will it arrive?

The recovery from Spain seem to have taken longer than after previous stage races. Had some sort of a bug that seemed to be very happy to stick around. That coupled with work equals very little activity the last couple of weeks.

Made it out to Bragg Creek for a nice hike with Toby. Almost could have ridden. Joined Craig and Shawn for some mtb city ride when most folks opted for indoor activity; Toby got a little taste as well.

The first good ride was yesterday; my first feel of spring. The traditional Cochrane loop; including Tuscany ravines and the connector back down to the resorvoir; a beautiful ride on the resorvoir (maybe the last, cracking noise was loud); along the train tracks on interesting icy layers wondering if we would crack through a hole or slide off as we rode along; then the Glendale pathways throuh river ice and snowy sections, mixed with running water and not so frozen cow patties (maybe the last interesting version of this route this year, path is getting pretty clear); the awesome climb out of the valley was soft and extra hard; mixed it up with a coffe stop at the Coffe Traders, sucsesful or not always nice to mix it up; nice and hard pace south to end the ride on some fun single track back into the city. Body finally felt responsive to my requests for effort and no aching muscles to speak of.

Now on the plane to the north for a week; exciting but busy times up there. Less riding but if spring kicks in for real, Easter weekend will be catch up time. And though I love our winter loops; yesterday was a great way to wrap up snow/ice adventures and plan for some up heigh and far rides on real dirt ..:) we will see...

Happy Riding!

ABR 2013 - Day 6

... was also shortened due to snow up high, a 50 km lollipop loop.

There was no neutral start right out of the gates the pace was set pretty high. Jon seemed strong and after a while riding with both the second and third place team we created a small gap that they did nkt seem to be able to close. After a bit of double track and enough mud to make it interesting we started climbing, it would be about 20 km off loop before going back the same way. We rode some great single track up but with the snow and mud up higher we ended up walking some as well. Going back down again was great fun, not as congested as before. We rode for a while with the womens leaders, then left them as conditions was probably to our benefit. When we finished the loop we still had not seen the second and third team. Jon pulled hard on the double track back to the finish and I hung on. Great day and good to end the race this way.

Bummer of the day was the "loss" of my bag with my three jackets; as well as Jons jacket. We trustingly left it at tge start and not to be found after. Someone  will enjoy a couple of Ridleys jackets, my fav winter ride jacket and my old worn wind breaker :(

Overall a very different experience this year with the weather but still great. Little less riding and dont feel as worn out as last year but to be able to race in Feb is always a bonus. Would not be saying no to next year.

Thanks to Jon for being a great partner!

Home Sunday and up north Monday, next ride Friday :)

Happy Riding!